Anglean Empire
The Anglean Empire was a vast empire that, over a millenium, came to control the majority of the world's land and population as the largest and most significant empire in history. It originated from the city of Boskator, which was conquered by the Anglae, a Rhamidic tribe under the leadership of Aengelröod Hardringer, in year 1 CE. The first leader of Bosk to declare himself Anglean Emperor was Cerescys in 510; from then on, the empire continued to expand outwards, conquering first the regions now known as South Anglea such as Caribni, Vard, and Gloern, and later extending north to conquer the Rhamid Empire in 655, under the emperor Varnash. After having defeated Rhamidia, Anglea had dominance over most of the northern continent; it would go on to stretch north through Varanell, southern Lasterus and Eqota, and south across the Equatorial Strait to the Southern Continent. The conquest of Harbelon in 998 by Samuel marked the farthest extent of the Anglean Empire, soon after which it began to crumble due to overexpansion. The empire finally ended in 1256 with the assassination of the last emperor David of Vard and the beginning of the event known as the Anglean Chasm. The capital of Anglea was Boskator, which grew to be the largest city in the world and a hub of trade and culture, with major roads heading from Boskator to all corners of the world. After 612, the city of Correfuscidia also served intermittently as a capital, with some emperors choosing to make there home there. Correfuscidia served as the intellectual center of the empire, and the home of the University, where people from all across the empire went to study religion, art, mathematics, and science. During the "Golden Age of Anglea," stretched over five hundred years between the conquest of Rhamusia and the begininning of Anglea's decline, art, science and culture flourished. Technology in central Anglea grew very advanced by 1100, and Boskator grew to have a population of over a million, while the empire, at its height, had a population of over 150,000,000. After Anglea's collapse, the world population would dip dramatically due to lower birth rates in the dissolved empire, Boskator would be largely burned and destroyed, and many of the great architectural and technological remnants of Anglea would be destroyed. The culture, language, and customs of the Anglean Empire would leave their influence on the majority of the world's population, and now have come to define the culture of what is known as the Anglean World, incorporating over a billion people. The English language, as spoken by the Anglean Empire, is now the world's most spoken language and is often considered the de facto ''lingua franca of diplomacy. Numerous leaders have attempted to reclaim the power of the Anglean Empire, and the legacy of Anglea continues to loom large over the modern world. Origins The Anglae were one of many semi-nomadic tribes who inhabited eastern Rhamidia, speaking an early "R-type" language known as Old Anglish; the modern-day region of Angla still bears their name. They inhabited a semi-legendary state known as the Kingdom of Anglea with its capital in the lost city of Edon, headed by seven noble families who ruled in an oligarchy under a king selected from among their leaders. In 112 CE, the kingdom was conquered by the growing Rhamid Empire, who allegedly burned Edon to the ground and forced the people to assimilate. While six of the noble families - Kyfe, Monchador, Estwex, Eningen and Halofax - pledged allegiance to the Rhamidi, others - including the House of Hardringer - refused to give up their language and culture. In 103 BCE, Aetheled Hardringer led a rebellion against the Rhamidi, but failed and was captured and killed. Those Angleans would refused to submit were forced out of the land, beginning what is known as the Years of Exile. '''Years of Exile' The Years of Exile feature prominently in Anglean lore and legend. Lasting one hundred years, they featured the persecuted Anglean people fleeing to state after state that treated them cruelly. During this time, the "seven banners" emerged, the seven leading families of the exiles. Among them, only one, the banished House Hardringer, was among the great houses of the the old kingdom; the others were Banner Manomax, Banner Indor, Banner Thrigeor, Banner Dunnig, Banner Ortelian, and Banner Astrix. The exiles fled first to the Kingdom of Qarn, from where they were expelled. They fled south to the Ava, who at first welcomed them but then attempted to enslave them. For forty years they were forced into labor under the Ava, until they finally managed to flee and to push south. South of the Ava were a number of disorganized Cereian tribes. Sizing upon a settlement that they liked, the tribe of Anglean exiles, now under the leadership of Aengelröod Hardringer, defeated a far larger tribe of Cereians living around the coastal town of Boskator. Aengelröod marched into the city on May 1, and there proclaimed himself King of the Anglean Kingdom of Bosk, a new homeland for the Anglean people. Declaring a final liberation of his people - ironically by subjugating the locals of the region - Aengelröod ordered the construction of a new calendar dating from that year, and that day to be a national holiday of the Anglean people. Anglean Kingdom of Bosk The Anglean Kingdom of Bosk existed for the next five hundred years. It society was divided into castes: the aristocracy were the members of the Seven Banners, about 800 in number, each family owning a vast estate in the lands around Boskator and also a home in the city where they became involved in politics; the freeman, were the descendants of those Angleans who had fled with the exiles from Angla, mostly living in the city and serving as skilled merchants, artisans, craftsmen and soldiers; and the serfs, constituting the vast majority of the population, who were generally the descendants of the local Cereians and other natives, who were tied to land in the grand estates of the nobility. The aristocracy and the freemen spoke Old Anglish, while the serfs spoke varieties of Cereian that gradually picked up more and more Anglish influence. The population of the aristocracy remained relatively constant, growing only slightly over the five hundred years of the kingdom's existence; however, the other two populations grew consistently - the freemen from 8,000 in 50 CE to 100,000 in 506, and the serfs from 100,000 in 50 to 800,000 in 500. The government was officially headed by a king, generally of house Hardringer, who ruled from a palace in Boskator; however, this king was largely powerless, and most rule resided in nine consuls in the Senate of Boskator. Seven were sent by the Banners, one served as a representative of the king, and one was elected by the freemen of Boskator. While the senate was in almost no way democratic, it would serve as the model for the concept of a senate in future republics. The political history of the Anglean Kingdom of Bosk is complicated, as it frequently got involved in wars with its neighbors. The kingdom's borders waxed and waned, but generally corresponded to roughly the region of Cereix known as Bosk, occupying about 60% of the country's area. Wars were waged with surrounding peoples, including the Varrons, the Carib, and the Qotisár. However, the Angleans soon showed themselves to have the most sophisticated army and political machine, and gradually triumphed over the surrounding states, creating a network of tributaries. The greatest obstacle to the kingdom's growth was the frequent political turmoil within the capital. Kings were frequently assassinated, and politics in the Senate often became locked and belligerent. Forty-one kings ruled the Anglean Kingdom of Bosk; thirty-three of them bore the surname Hardringer, and fourteen ruled for less than one year. Early Empire The Anglean Kingdom of Bosk broke out into a civil war in 504 between two branches of the Hardringer family. Harald III Hardringer was killed in an insurgency in tributary Ascony, and left no heirs. Both of his second cousins, George and Cerescys, claimed the throne, and the Banners began taking sides between them. While George claimed five out of the seven banners, Cerescys began currying the support of the tributaries and local states. In the Battle of Atrax, Cerescys's army powerfully defeated George, and George was beheaded. In Atrax, the victorious army of Angleans along with other peoples all declared Cerescys king - not only Anglean King of Boskator, but Anglean King of Varrony, of Ascony, of Nemithur, of Ceremin, and of Qotisé. Cerescys returned to Boskator with his army and cemented his control over the city. On September 6, he forced all of the consuls of the Senate to crown him Anglean Emperor and King of Bosk, Varrony, Ascony, Nemithur, Ceremin and Qotisé. With a new imperial title and a suddenly unified state under his rule, Cerescys had himself constructed an ornate golden crown and a beautiful palace in Bosk. He continued subduing neighboring states, and by his death, he had expanded his borders all the way to the edge of the powerful Kingdom of Caribni in the east and north to the southern border of the Ava Kingdom. However, his reign was cut short when he was murdered by his nephew, Tuskal, who seized the throne from him. Tuskal continued the conquests of his uncle, vastly expanding the Anglean borders and cementing his power. With the ferocity and cruelty characteristic of early Anglean emperors, Tuskal forced conversion and speech of the English language throughout all of his domains. He instituted massive drafts throughout the empire, creating an army much larger and more centralized than any of the surrounding nations, even if they were more populous. During the reign of Tuskal, a peasant man named Stefan of Andropia began teaching a different belief system from the Anglean one, which he called Centrism. ''His teachings were powerful and effective and spread quickly through the Anglean dominions, replacing the polytheistic Anglean religion. News of Stefan quickly reached Tuskal, who had him killed. This led to a rebellion by Centrists in Caribni, which Tuskal died putting down. Tuskal's son Aelbert, who took the name Tuskal II, decided to cement his rule by beginning with a conquest - the Ava people to the north who had once treated the Angla so poorly. However, unlike the weak tribal states that the Angleans had first conquered, the Ava were a centralized and powerful fighting force whole initially repelled the Angleans, causing them to suffer massive losses. Disenheartened, Tuskal II returned to Boskator feeling a failure. There he encountered a young and influential Centrist by the name of James of Orphalos who claimed that the Angleans' recent run of bad luck was due to the murder of the Saint Stefan. Desperate for an answer, Tuskal told James that if he could defeat the Ava he would convert to Centrism. James took him up on his word, taking charge of the Anglean army along with his own band of Centrist rebels. Together, they managed to overrun the Ava and seized their capital city of Ilospor. Overjoyed, Tuskal II followed up on his word, converting to Centrism and renaming the city Port Saint James, in honor of James of Orphalos. He declared himself reborn, renamed himself the Emperor Stefanos - or "follower of Stefan" - and renamed his four-year-old son Orphalion in honor of James of Orphalos. Tuskal's conversion led to a revolt by older Anglean nobles in Bosk, which exhausted and consumed the latter ten years of his reign, before he died at the age of forty, leaving the throne to his son Orphalion. The young Orphalion, only fourteen years of age, was a pious and pacifist man, who spent his reign trying to convert his empire to Centrism. Orphalion focused on economic prosperity over territorial conquest, strenghtening the "bones" of the empire and ruling with a fair hand. However, his lack of territorial ambitions angered his cousin Harald, who had him murdered and seized the throne as Tuskal III in 608. Despite this, the attempts of Tuskal III at conquest were mostly ill-advised, leading to a number of failed campaigns in inner Oshgan and Artius. He died of a disease that he contracted in the Artian jungles without specifying which of his sons, Victor or Varnash, would succeed him. While Victor, the elder son, immediately claimed the throne, Varnash, his larger and stronger twenty-one-year-old brother, challenged him to single combat for the crown. Victor accepted, and, in the duel, Varnash famously beheaded his brother within the first two minutes, holding up Victor's head and declaring that he was the only king. 'The Conquest of Rhamusia' Varnash has become something of a legend, to the point that most historians are inable to separate the truth of his life from the legend, much of which he propagated to inspire fear in his subjects. Supposedly, Varnash was a red-haired man of seven feet and three hundred pounds who ate only raw meat and wielded a knight's broadsword with one hand. With a vision far wider than any of his predecessors, Varnash decided that, in order to truly establish himself as the rightful king in the wake of his usurpation of his brother, he had to take on a bigger fish: the massive, crumbling Rhamid Empire that dominated the central part of the continent and still held a monopoly on culture and learning. Drafting an army including nearly all of the able-bodied men of the empire, leaving fields deserted and cities empty, Varnash pledged to do the impossible. Varnash began his invasion through Begharra, defeating a Rhamid army three times the Angleans' size at Mortriphan and continuing north, raiding and plundering Begharra, Qarn, and and Sida until his armies reached Rhamusia. There the Rhamid armies had retreated, still significantly larger than Varnash's. Having taken all of the southern Rhamidi holdings in under a year, Varnash began the Siege of Rhamusia, which would continue for more than five years. The city starved, its population decreasing from a population of over a milion to under 200,000, yet still the Rhamidi Emperor refused to surrender. Meanwhile, the Angleans sustained massive casualties, but Varnash refused to give anything in, even as his entire empire teetered on the edge of overextension and collapse. The city finally buckled in 655, with the broken and shattered populace demanding a truce and overthrowing the powerless Rhamidi Emperor themselves, opening the gates to Varnash. In an uncharacteristic move, upon taking Rhamusia, Varnash was so taken by its beauty that he decided not to sack it and instead to let it be. He claimed all of Rhamidia as his, and installed one of his generals, Leprikas, as the Governor of Rhamidia, ruling it from Rhamusia. Varnash never married or bore children, instead leaving the governance of Anglea after his death to his favorite general Leprikas, who began the Leprikan Dynasty. High Anglea (660-1050) The age following the conquest of Rhamidia is often known as "High Anglea," or occasionally as the "Golden Age" (although this is more often used to describe the period of peace after the conquest of Harbelon in 987). While still expanding, Anglea at this time was a clear regional (and eventually global) superpower, and the imagination of an Anglean Empire came to be fully materialized. Despite this, High Anglea lasted four hundred years and was not at all homogeneous. The empire more than doubled in size during this period and its population exploded by a factor of five. While Varnash had been a brilliant military commander, his rule of the empire had been largely based around his own peculiar character and left little strong precent for his successors. Leprikas and the succeeding Leprikan dynasty spent much of the next hundred years attempting to bring internal stability to the empire's government; and while the road there was bumpy, Golden Age of Anglea (987-1050) T The Late Empire (1050-1256) fj Society Anglean society was highly stratified. The highest stratum was the imperial family, consisting of the emperor and his immediate relatives, who - particularly after c. 750 - were granted a semi-divine status and enjoyed unequaled wealth, power, and respect. Just under them were the high aristocracy, those with high titles who ruled over large swaths of land. In the early empire, the high aristocracy were often given charge over divisions of the empire, although this position fell upon governors after the institution of the provincial system. Instead, the high aristocracy simply enjoyed large amounts of wealth and power. Many carried titles, such as ''Duke of Varrony ''or ''Duke of Caristo, ''even though these titles did not grant them actual government control over the provinces; however, the governors generally funneled some money to the high aristocracy, and the high aristocracy had some power and leverage over local politics. Most high aristocratic families kept houses in Boskator, for which they were known as the ''House Manomax ''or the ''House Triaphon. Under the high aristocracy were the low aristocrats, comprising about 5-8% of the population. Low aristocrats had no power, but enjoyed wealth and status and generally owned large swaths of farmland, controlling serfs. Most low aristocrats owed technical allegiance to a high aristocrat - for example, the family Lúkavar owned a manor house and fields in rural Caribni, and would pay a tithe to the Duke of Caribni and attend him on official occasions. Legally beneath the low aristocrats in status were the Anglean freemen, by far the most diverse group in Anglean society. In 506, they comprised only 10% of the total population, while by 1200 they comprised around half. Originally, the freemen were the descendants of the Anglean exiles from the Angla homeland, but many populations were granted freeman status. Freemen were generally concentrated in urban areas, and were allowed to own property and to vote for governor and consuls in the Anglean Senate. They were largely artisans, merchants, traders, craftsmen, clergy and soldiers, and varied greatly in wealth - some freemen were poorer than rural peasants, and others were wealthier than many aristocrats. Most governors and consuls were freemen. They generally spoke English as their first language, with only a few regional exceptions - Harbelonian freemen typically retained Zenian as their first language, and some Rhamidians clung to Rhamidi. Anglean freemen were also sometimes referred to as "commoners" or "townspeople," although these words can be ambiguous and did not necessarily reflect the legal category of freemen. Beneath them were the serfs and the disenfranchised peasants. Serfs were legally bound to land controlled by noble families; while they themselves were not property, their land was the aristocracies' property and they were generally not allowed to move. Some serfs were freed from their bondage to the land, either by paying off the aristocracy or through generosity, but not all were granted freeman status, and some remained disenfranchised peasants, who could own land but had no rights in Anglean government and were treated as subordinate to freemen. Serfs typically lived in poverty, had no family names, and passed little to nothing on to their descendants but stories and cultural traditions. Most serfs did not speak English as their first language, except in some areas that were heavily settled; even in Bosk, most serfs spoke Cereian. The serf languages were heavily influenced by English, and often written in the Anglean script by those who learned to write, but still had their roots in the local languages. The lowest category of all were slaves. Slaves, unlike serfs, did not live in their own homes but were possessed by freemen and given quarters. They were legally property of their owners and did not retain rights. While slavery was relatively common in early Anglea, it became discouraged and a number of emperors attempted to eliminate slavery; by the late empire, slavery had disappeared from most regions of the empire. Emperor Samuel notably declared the murder of a slave to be a crime, and stated that slaves had the rights of all other humans and should be treated as such. Culture Literature Anglean literature is often considered to have reached its peak between 600 and 900, although there is a great variety of different Anglean literature in different styles. Anglea is best known for its poetry, theater, and, in its later years, the development of the novel. Literature played a large role in the politics and society of Anglea. Anglean poetry dates back to before the establishment of the empire; however, early Anglean poetry is generally not seen as having a wide degree of literary merit, and is often thought inferior to the Rhamidi poetry of the time. This poetry, characterized by writers such as Lume and Theocrast, was often religious in nature or heavily moralistic, and followed strict but simple verse schemes. Rubert Elthe is generally seen to be the "Father of Anglean poetry," using the styles of the newly conquered Rhamidi Empire to improve his poetry. Structurally, it used more sophisticated verse patterns, and Elthe is known for having first invented the sonnet, having written over a thousand sonnets throughout his life. He also wrote longer poems and play, is considered one of the only great Anglean poet-playwrights, who write plays in verse. Thematically, his works remained quite structured and moralistic, but invited more subtlety and more interesting language, and he often painted complex characters and interesting scenes instead of the more stock one-dimensional characters of earlier Anglean literature. Elthe's student, Edward Wicke, is often considered to have brought Anglean poetry to its greatest heights, moving away from theater and expanding poetry as a unique form. He was more liberal with the use of verse and created sprawling and dense poems full of ambiguity. At the same time, Anglean theater moved away from the poetic, as playwrights such as Lygor Tannien, Julian Scyles and Isaac Wright moved toward realism in their theater, depicting more ordinary events without obvious moralistic or religious themes and using colloquial language instead of verse. Notable plays from this era include Ophelia, ''The Death of Elsinora Ray'', A Family, and Below Heaven's Gate. Theater and poetry continued changing. Even Tannien's school rejected radical playwrights such as Willam Hopf, while others continued to make traditional verse theater such as Yaren Bates and Ethelred Janger. Women came to be more respected in the literary scene - for some years, Beatriss Wellsely was perhaps the most famous and important poet in the empire. Administrative Divisions Anglea had a highly stratified and formalized system of administrative division that allowed it to govern effectively across such an enormous span. The empire was divided into provinces, which each had a civilian governor, also called a prefect, and a military governor, also called a marshal. The civilian governor was frequently elected or otherwise selected by the freemen of the province, and reported to the marshal, who was sent directly from Boskator and reported back to Boskator. There was no hereditary power in the provincial government, although often local aristocracy who cooperated with the empire upon conquest were granted official titles, which included Duke, Count and Lord. These families were allowed to retain ancestral homes and large tracts of land, but were not given any technical authority in government; all of this ultimately rested in the Emperor. Within provinces were municipalities, which were governed similarly by an elected mayor who reported directly to both governors and was held responsible for his municipality. One municipality could hold several towns, but most had a central town and a surrounding area of farmland. Generally, taxes were managed directly by the municipality and sent up to the governor. Local government were responsible for acquiring the proper taxes for their superiors or else the imperial government would have them promptly removed. List of Provinces: